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“What?”
“Listen to me, Vivienne. Have you been having dreams? Or have you seen any apparitions lately? Has anything happened that was out of the ordinary?” Her mother’s voice was urgent, and her French accent seemed a bit more prominent.
“No, I’m not having dreams or seeing ghosts,” she told Evelyn, deciding this was the best time to bring up what had occurred with Samia. “Although, something different…happened yesterday.”
Evelyn’s breath hitched through the phone and Vivienne rethought telling her mother.
“Vivienne Henriette Annabel Bordeaux, you tell me everything that happened yesterday!” She might have smiled at the use of her full name if her usually calm mother didn’t sound borderline frantic.
Vivienne did exactly as her mother demanded, relating the circumstances surrounding her blackout, and waited for her mother to speak.
“Darkness? That’s all you felt?” He mother paused and Vivienne was about to agree when Evelyn continued in a question-answer way that made her daughter’s brows furrow as she struggled to understand.
“And you saw red? Anger. And you also felt…powerful? In the face of a threat, those could just be your druid powers coming to your defense. I don’t know about this blackout though. That sounds strange.”
“Mom, you sounded a bit…erm—?”
“Distraught?” Evelyn chuckled but it was hollow, and lacked any mirth. “Vivienne, I need you to be aware of your surroundings, always. If you have a dream that seems too real, I want you to project yourself out. Do you remember how to project yourself somewhere else?”
“Yes, I remember. I didn’t know you could project out of a dream. Wait, what dream are you talking about?”
“Cassandre has been seeing a druid in her dreams. He’s very powerful, and he’s also evil. His name is Alexander Petraeus and you can recognize him by his pale eyes and blond hair. If he appears to you, you project yourself out of the dream, and if you can’t, force yourself to wake up.”
Huh? That was literally what went through her mind as Evelyn told her about the dream druid.
“What? How do I force myself to wake up?”
Vivienne heard shuffling on the other end, and then her mother said, “Do you remember how to call the spell book?” When she answered in the affirmative, her mother continued, “Call the spell book immediately after you hang up, and memorize the spell that the book opens to.”
“Why is he so evil?” Curiosity made her ask that question. She knew the druids had been banished for the havoc they wreaked, but her mother made this Alexander guy sound like Satan. Worse than Satan.
“Because he’s powerful, Vivienne, and he was one of the leaders of the druids. If he can contact Cassandre through her dreams, then he still has control of some of his powers. Learn the spell, ma chère, and be watchful for anything strange around you.”
It wasn’t the appropriate time for a joke, but as Vivienne heard the last sentence, she vaguely contemplated asking, “How strange?” Everything in Cedar Creek was strange in some way or the other, from the werewolves to the blood rites to the mating ceremonies. Yes, all strange. But she would heed her mother, and be watchful, and if anyone tried to come to her in her dreams, she’d know that spell well enough to get out.
***
Max awoke to pain so intense he grit his teeth together and slammed his fists against the bed. A tortured groan escaped his lips and he rolled to his side, heaving uncontrollably. He tried to open his eyes, but was unsuccessful. When his stomach felt stable enough, he rolled onto his back, grimacing in pain.
There was a sound somewhere next to him, and he parted his lips, and managed one word: “Water.” Even though his entire body ached, his throat was so dry it felt as if someone had blow-torched it.
A hand reached under his head and lifted moments before he felt the press of a cool glass to his lips. He drank deeply. Too deeply. He sputtered and ended up choking before he was finally able to better drink the liquid. The glass was removed and he heard a voice, as if far away, ask if he wanted anything else. His stomach griped, clutching in on itself, but the thought of food nauseated him.
Within moments, he’d fallen back into a deep sleep.
***
Vivienne’s conversation with her mother did little to calm or reassure her of her powers, which were mostly unknown and now seemed to be going haywire, so half an hour later, she marched down the stairs in her running shoes. Eli hadn’t shown up for their morning run, or maybe he had and she’d been sleeping, but there were too many things passing through her head and no one, not even her own mother, seemed able to understand it. A run was just what she needed to, if not clear her head, control it.
